Community / Education

D.C.’s Latino fraternities and sororities are at the center of summertime social networks

By hola | Published August 14, 2014 | No Comments

Every summer the local chapter of Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. hosts an entire weekend of socializing, networking and chowing down on Latin-style barbeque.

The annual bash brings out both current and past members of the Latino fraternity, who attend colleges and universities around the country. At this year’s main event, more than 150 hungry guests were lured toward the grill by the tangy scent of adobo-seasoned burgers last month at Carderock Park in Potomac, Md. And the party continued at other venues throughout the weekend.

The gathering is one of many festivities that bring together Latin fraternity and sorority members to share laughter, hugs, and networking every summer in the Washington area.

LUL is one of half a dozen Hispanic fraternities and more than a dozen Hispanic sororities around the country. Organizations with D.C. chapters offer their hospitality to visiting “hermanos” and “hermanas” who come to here each summer to intern on The Hill and at other institutions.

While people may consider these student groups—fraternities in particular—as purely party-oriented organizations, they provide more than social outlets. They also help members build their professional networks while still in college and after graduation too.

Isabel Argoti and Cindy Herrera are among the Latina sorority members who say their organizations have connected them with professional opportunities in the District. Herrera is a George Mason University junior who joined Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority, Inc. Argoti is junior at the University of Virginia and member of Sigma Lambda Upsilon, Senoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority Inc.

“My hermanas have assisted me endlessly,” says Herrera, who met sisters from Florida, New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere at events held in Washington this summer. This sisterhood network helped her land a receptionist job at the Division of Special Education at George Mason.

Meanwhile, Argoti found out about the Latinas Learning to Lead program at the National Hispanic Leadership Institute through a hermana from another chapter. She applied and was selected as one of 22 college students enrolled in the Institute’s 2013 program.

“It was a huge accomplishment and huge door that opened for me” both personally and professionally, Argoti says.

According to Patrick Daley, author of “The Fraternity Leader,” there are 9 million Greek-life members nationwide, including non-Latino groups who make up most of the members. Many of the groups socialize together. The relationships formed in college continue to grow long afterwards, helping members to navigate their career paths. In fact, 85 percent of Fortune 500 executives had been members of fraternities and sororities. And students in Greek groups have a  20 percent higher college graduation rate than non-Greeks, according to USA Today.

Among the young professionals making use of his fraternity’s Washington social network is Kevin Emendoza, 26, who co-founded the Lambda Upsilon Lambda chapter at University of California, Berkley, where he graduated in 2011. Emendoza attended the Carderock Park barbecue bash in July.

He now works at Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. in the District, joining the wave of young people moving to the nation’s capital in greater numbers than anytime in recent memory. People between ages of 20- and 34-years-old, make up nearly 27 percent of Washington D.C.’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They include many Latinos from around the country and abroad. In a city where connections matter, it’s little wonder that having a ready-made social and professional network provides advantages.

“They set a good example for me, which gave me the motivation to seek out internships and opportunities especially the ones in D.C.,” Emendoza says.

—Alexia Constanza

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